Shavkat Mirziyoyev highlights Uzbekistan's successful poverty reduction strategy at AIIB summit

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev spoke at the ninth annual meeting of the AIIB's Council of Governors held in Samarkand. 

The head of state emphasized that this annual meeting of the AIIB's Council of Governors is being held for the first time in our region. "We believe that the selection of Uzbekistan for this prestigious forum's ninth session is a high example of our mutual respect and trust-based cooperation," said Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

It was noted that in recent years, New Uzbekistan has been becoming an international platform for discussing important global and regional issues and finding effective solutions. Nearly 2,000 representatives from over 100 countries are participating in the AIIB's annual meeting.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev highlighted that in the context of a "volatile global situation," "financial resources have almost doubled in cost," and in such conditions, the role of international financial institutions is increasingly significant.

"It should be noted that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has rapidly become one of the most prestigious financial institutions globally, with a project portfolio of $55 billion," emphasized the president.

According to Shavkat Mirziyoyev, "in recent years, irreversible reforms and fundamental changes have been rapidly implemented in New Uzbekistan." The poverty rate in the country has been reduced from 23% to 11% within four years. This year, the goal is to bring this figure down to 9%, and by 2030, to halve it.

"Our reforms are fundamentally aimed at actively supporting entrepreneurship, increasing new jobs and income sources for our people across all sectors."

At the same time, we are implementing a "multidimensional" poverty reduction program that encompasses expanding access to quality education and medical services, improving housing conditions, enhancing social protection, and building infrastructure networks in the most disadvantaged areas.

For this reason, we have created Uzbekistan's experience in reducing poverty at the community level based on advanced foreign approaches. Recently, Nobel Prize laureate in economics Abhijit Banerjee emphasized that "Uzbekistan's neighborhood system has a unique recipe for lifting every needy family out of poverty," and this is no coincidence," said the president.

The head of state also touched on changes in the education system, stating that over the past eight years, coverage of preschool education has increased from 27% to 74%, and higher education coverage has risen from 9% to 38%, with new schools built and an additional 800,000 student places created. In the next 3-4 years, the aim is to achieve at least 80% coverage of preschool education, and starting in 2025, to launch 100 new schools annually based on public-private partnerships.

Earlier, Shavkat Mirziyoyev had declared the reduction of poverty a nationwide movement.